Alexander T. Englert, assistant professor of philosophy, published “Why Gödel believed in the afterlife” in Synthese. Gödel's philosophy of religion remains understudied, yet Englert reveals a thinker whose religious convictions rested on sophisticated philosophical reasoning.
Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, won the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize for her book Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History.
Linda Fairtile, head of Parsons Music Library and adjunct lecturer of music, published a critical edition of Giacomo Puccini's opera Edgar. The edition reconstructs the orchestral score from historical sources since the original complete score did not survive.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, published “Conflict, Climate, and Child Health: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa” in Population and Development Review.
Jorge A. Wong Medina, assistant professor of classical studies, published "Sappho’s flowers: Lyric ἄνθεσιν and the Aeolic dative” in Glotta.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, published “Quality of care and health insurance uptake in Namibia” in Journal of Public Health in Africa.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, has been appointed to the YIELD Hub Advisory Board. The group of global leaders are committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), youth leadership, gender justice, and systems change across the world.
Wade Downey, professor of chemistry, along with Eric Zhou, ’27, and Helen Xia, ’24, published “Friedel–Crafts Addition of 3-Alkylated Indoles to Aldehydes: 2-Hydroxyalkylation Promoted by Trimethylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate” in The Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Caitlin Giustiniano, visiting assistant professor of Russian studies, was awarded a fellowship by the American Councils for International Education for a four-week immersive program that combines language and cultural study in Kazakhstan.
Melinda A. Yang, assistant professor of biology, Stephanie A. Spera, associate professor of geography, environment, & sustainability, and Beth Zizzamia, spatial analysis lab GIS operations manager, along with students Flora Yi, '27, and Elliot Delroba, '24, published "The AADR Visualizer: an ArcGIS online visualizer for ancient human DNA from the Allen Ancient DNA Resource" in the Bioinformatic Advances. The AADR Visualizer is the associated tool. The groundbreaking project lets users explore ancient human DNA through an interactive global map.
Margaret Tait, assistant professor of health studies, presented "Platformed Persuasion: TikTok and the Marketing of Wellness through MLMs" at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA).
Jack Singal, professor of physics, published "Leveraging Redshift Probabilities and Machine Learning Classification to Identify Catastrophic Outlier Photometric Redshift Estimates" in The Astrophysical Journal along with Jason Yoo, '26, and Christine Gyure, '25.
Kurt Beals, visiting associate professor of German studies, received an honorable mention for the Stephen Mitchell Prize for Excellence in Translation for So the Day Begins: Grief Refrain, a translation of Anja Utler’s book of poetry.
John Peters, assistant professor of biology, published "Getting students excited about introductory biology" in ASBMB Today.
Harrison Moenich, manager of photography arts and media equipment, presents their piece, Z, at the Queer Conscience 2026 exhibition at The Image Flow Photography Center. This is the first exhibition of Moenich's newest body of work, Q.M.C., which documents the rise of the Queer Moto Club in Richmond, Virginia.
Dean Simpson, professor of classical studies, received the 2026 Lurlene W. Todd Teacher of the Year Award from the Classical Association of Virginia. The award recognizes an outstanding Latin teacher or professor of Latin, Greek, classics, or archaeology on any instructional level in Virginia.
Jack Singal, professor of physics, published “Observing Strategies for Making a 310 MHz Absolute Map with the Green Bank Telescope" in Research Notes of the AAS along with Owen Schardt, '27, about strategies for mapping the sky with the Green Bank Telescope.
Kurt Beals, visiting associate professor of German studies, was named to the shortlist for the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for his translation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front. The award is considered one of the top prizes for German-English translators.
Colleen Carpenter-Swanson, assistant professor of biology, published “Employing zebrafish to understand genetic drivers of epilepsy-related comorbid behaviors” in Frontiers in Pharmacology along with Kharma Hall, '24, and Olivia Beatty, '24.
Laura Knouse, professor of psychology and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, published “Efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral group intervention for ADHD in college students via telehealth” in the Journal of American College. The article examines a telehealth adaptation of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for college students with ADHD that focuses on organizational, time management, and planning (OTMP) skills.
Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, presented "The Politics of Medicine in the Middle East" at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in honor of National Arab American Heritage Month.
Carrie Wu, professor of biology, published “Wavyleaf basketgrass (Oplismenus undulatifolius) invasion is associated with changes in soil microbial communities” in mSphere.
Matthew Belk, physics lab manager, received the University of Richmond 2026 Outstanding Service Award. The award recognizes staff from across campus who have made a unique difference to the University of Richmond community.
Robby Williams, lighting and sound supervisor in the Department of Theatre & Dance, received the University of Richmond 2026 Outstanding Service Award. The award recognizes staff from across campus who have made a unique difference to the University of Richmond community.
Heather Russell, associate professor of mathematics, received the 2026 School of Arts & Sciences (A&S) Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. The award recognizes A&S faculty members who have accumulated an exemplary record in mentoring students working on research and creative projects outside of the classroom.
Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, associate professor of physics, received the 2026 School of Arts & Sciences (A&S) Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. The award recognizes A&S faculty members who have accumulated an exemplary record in mentoring students working on research and creative projects outside of the classroom.
Tianyuan Xu, assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, published "Branching rules of minuscule representations via a new partial order" in Combinatorial Theory.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, received the 2026 Global Engagement Award. This annual award is given by the Center for Global Engagement and recognizes students, staff, faculty, and alumni who perform exemplary acts of internationalization to benefit the University of Richmond and communities beyond.
Daria Bozzato, visiting assistant professor in Italian studies, received a research fellowship from the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) in partnership with the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP), to fund her research project "Domesticating the Deviant: Photography, Honor, and the Surgical Policing of Women in the Luso-Italian-American Asylum." The project investigates how psychosurgery and psychiatric photography functioned as tools for the "surgical domestication" of women across Portugal, Italy, and the United States.
Amy Treonis, associate professor of biology, published “Briny Biology: Nematodes From the Hypersaline Springs of the Central Namib Desert” in Ecology & Evolution.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, was a panelist for "Is Avant-Garde Our Last Defense?" at the 2026 Wide Open Experimental Film Festival at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, hosted by the Oklahoma City University film program. The panel focused on the political efficacy of experimental filmmaking and its connection to makers’ and audiences’ lived experiences.
Kathryn Owens, director of financial aid, has been elected to serve as president-elect of the Virginia Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (VASFAA).
Laura Knouse, professor of psychology and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, published “A narrative review of stigma and masking in ADHD: insights from English-language research and the Japanese cultural context” in Frontiers in Psychology. The paper examines how adults with ADHD may mask their symptoms to avoid related stigma and how that might differ between Japan and the United States.
Ben Pettis, assistant professor of rhetoric and communication studies, presented "Rumors of Twitter's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Examining the Persistence and Perseverance of Academic Twitter" at the Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine (CMSSP) conference.
Pippa Holloway, Cornerstones Chair in History, testified as an expert witness in a special three judge panel trial court in the Shelby County (Tennessee) Circuit Court. The case, Moses v. Goins et al., challenges a law that permanently disfranchises Tennessee citizens following a felony conviction. Holloway presented historical testimony that included a historical analysis of the Free and Equal Elections clause of the Tennessee Constitution, which requires conviction by a jury before a person otherwise entitled to vote could be denied suffrage on the basis of a criminal conviction.
Laura Knouse, professor of psychology and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, published “For adults with ADHD — or even those with just some symptoms — using smart strategies to start and complete tasks can make all the difference” in The Conversation.
Kathryn Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies, co-led the Global Health Educators Community workshop at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health 2026 Annual Conference, and Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, served as a workshop facilitator.
Ben Pettis, assistant professor of rhetoric and communication studies, published “The two lives of Chuck Norris” in The Conversation about what happens when internet culture turns both celebrities and regular people into memes.
Joanne Kong, senior teaching faculty of music, published Veggan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living. The book includes practical advice on adopting a plant-based lifestyle and how everyday choices are integral to more compassionate living.
Ladelle McWhorter, Stephanie Bennett-Smith, Chair of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Emerita, published Unbecoming Persons: The Rise and Demise of the Modern Moral Self. The book challenges our contemporary focus on personal identity and self-improvement, advocating instead for a greater emphasis on communal living and relational well-being.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, presented his latest film, Monument, at the Pambujan International Film Festival and the ImoIFF International Film Festival. The film has been named an Official Selection at the Wide Open Experimental Film Festival, the Fisura, International Festival of Experimental Film & Video, and the Cauldron International Film & Video Festival. See the full list of screenings.
Matthew Lowder, associate professor of psychology, along with Gwynna Ryan '21, published "Retrieval Interference in the Processing of Relative Clauses: Evidence from the Visual-World Paradigm" in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience.
Courtney Blondino, assistant professor of health studies, and Joanna Wares, associate professor of mathematics, published "Beyond MAT Expansion: A Mathematical Modeling Analysis of Opioid Use Disorder Intervention Efficacy" in Mathematical Biosciences along with Maniha Akram, ’24.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, is exhibiting in Contains Multitudes at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Vladimir Chlouba, assistant professor of leadership studies, published "Seeing women govern encourages support for women in politics — with no apparent backlash from men" in The Conversation US.
Kurt Beals, visiting associate professor of German studies, is on the shortlist for the James Tait Black Prize for his translation of Jenny Erpenbeck’s essay collection Things that Disappear: Reflections and Memories.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, was awarded a Stepping Stone grant by the Trellis Art Fund, a New York–based nonprofit. The fund supports individual artists with unrestricted grants in a two-year program.
Jillean McCommons, assistant professor of history and Africana studies, published "From Their Double Minority Position": Black Women's Leadership, Black Feminist Thought, and the Black Appalachian Commission, 1969-1975" in the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.
Matthew Lowder, associate professor of psychology, published "Dominance Norms for 274 Korean Homonyms" in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.
Jimmy Davis Jr., lead cook at the Heilman Dining Center, won a bronze medal from the American Culinary Federation at the National Association of College and University Food Services 2026 Mid-Atlantic Culinary Challenge in Washington, D.C, for his Coco Rico-glazed catfish with tempura fried okra dish.
Accounting professor Nancy Bagranoff has been named to Sentara Health's Board of Directors. Sentara Health is an integrated, not-for-profit health care delivery system, and is one of the largest health systems in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, and among the top 20 largest not-for-profit integrated health systems in the country.
Harrison Moenich, manager of photography arts and media equipment, presented their work and spoke on the panel “Reflecting the Times: Image-Making and Education in the Shadow of Genocide” at the 2026 Society for Photographic Education annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Eric S. Yellin, professor of history, published "Broken Covenants: Jewish Memory and Racial Restrictive Covenants in Greater Washington" in Modern American History.
David Salisbury, associate professor of geography, environment, & sustainability, received the Conference of Latin American Geography (CLAG) Enlaces Award in recognition of his success and commitment to improve relationships between geographers and geography departments throughout Latin America.
Orianna Cacchione, deputy director and curator of exhibitions for University Museums, published Indelible Traces. The book accompanies an exhibition that she curated that is currently on view at the AD&A Museum UC Santa Barbara. Indelible Traces is the first scholarly monograph on the multi-disciplinary artist Tiffany Chung’s work over the last twenty-five years.
Sandra Peart, dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies, co-published "The Importance of Approbation in The Wealth of Nations" in The Independent Review.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, discusses her current exhibition List Projects 34: Brittany Nelson in Bomb.
Jamelle Wilson, dean of the School of Professional & Continuing Studies at the University of Richmond, has been appointed by Governor Abigal Spanberger to serve on Virginia’s Board of Education. This is Wilson’s second appointment to the Board; she previously served from 2017–2021.
Arryn Robbins, assistant professor of psychology, along with Yixuan Zhai, ’26, published “Face2Cam: A user-to-webcam distance estimation image dataset” in the Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications (Volume 3).
Carol Parish, Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chair in Chemistry, published “Instability of Octahedral Symmetry in Si8O12H8 and Ge8O12H8: Consequence of the Pseudo-Jahn-Teller Effect” in the Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials.
Bill Ross, professor of mathematics, published The Wonders of the Cesàro Operator. The graduate-level book surveys the classical Cesàro operator, covering its history, properties, and modern generalizations.
Linda Boland, professor of biology, published “Colleges face a choice: Try to shape AI’s impact on learning, or be redefined by it” in The Conversation.
Carol Parish, Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chair in Chemistry, along with students Marcos Hendler, ’25, and Travis Greene, ’23, and former postdoctoral research associate, Dominic A. Sirianni, published “The Effect of Chalcogen-Phosphorous Substituents on Enediynes Undergoing the Bergman Cyclization” in Inorganic Chemistry.
Michael Marsh-Soloway was promoted to senior teaching faculty of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures. His specialties include Russian literature and culture, linguistics, and intellectual history in the sciences.
Allison Brenning was promoted to senior teaching faculty of education. Here specialties include expeditionary learning, collaborative partnerships in inclusive classrooms, and elementary math methods and intervention.
Angela Leeper was promoted to senior teaching faculty of education. She is the director of the Education Studio, and her specialties include children’s literature and picture book illustration.
Solis Winters, assistant professor of health studies, published "How do repeated financial incentives affect HIV care-seeking behaviours over time? Evidence from a cluster-randomised controlled trial" in BMJ Global Health.
Kitty Hartvigsen, Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, and Olivia Harding, psychology manager of labs, along with Megan Hooper, '23, Evelyn Barringer, '24, Isabel DiLandro, '25, Aditya Narayanan, '25, Brendan Crockett, '23, Yulia Shatalov, '25, Isabella Tome, '25, Paean Luby, '25, and Braden Wixted, '25, published "A rodent model of enhanced anticipation of positive events: sex-specific modifications in cognitive bias and emotional resilience" in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, Jonathan Richardson, associate professor of biology, Kitty Hartvigsen, Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Olivia Harding, psychology manager of labs, and Jacy Jacob, adjunct lecturer of psychology and former Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, along with Ava Wagner, '24, Isabel DiLandro, '25, Andres Mauco, '26, Paean Luby, '25, and Aditya Narayanan, '25, published “Comparative neurobiology of vigilance and stress adaptation systems in wild and laboratory rodents (Rattus norvegicus)” in Frontiers in Ethology.
Lauren Henley, assistant professor of leadership studies, published Inquisition for Blood: The Making of a Black Female Serial Killer in the Jim Crow South with LSU Press.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, is currently exhibiting List Projects 34: Brittany Nelson at The List Visual Arts Center, MIT’s contemporary art museum. The show highlights photographs and a moving-image work filmed at the Green Bank Observatory. Nelson’s work considers how scientific inquiry and emotional projection converge, transforming instruments of cosmic detection into metaphors for intimacy, distance, and longing.
Kristin M.S. Bezio, professor of leadership studies and Jepson School associate dean of academic affairs, published Shakespeare and Identity in a Divided World with Routledge.
Elizabeth Baughan was promoted to professor of classical studies. Her research focuses on funerary monuments, burial customs, and cultural identity in the ancient Mediterranean as well as African American cemeteries in the Richmond area.
Elena Calvillo was promoted to professor of art & art history. Her research and writing focus on artistic service and imitative strategies in sixteenth-century papal Rome. She is broadly interested in theories of representation and cultural translation and brokerage in Italy, Spain and Portugal in the sixteenth century.
Jessie Fillerup was promoted to professor of music. Her research interests are driven by her curiosity about French musical cultures, illusory experiences, and the nature of musical temporality.
Kristine Grayson was promoted to professor of biology. She is a field ecologist whose areas of expertise include population ecology, thermal physiology, the spread of invasive forest insects, and the conservation of amphibians and reptiles.
Ovidiu Lipan was promoted to professor of physics. His research is focused on various aspects of the interplay between discrete and continuous models in theoretical physics, with a recent highlight on the connection between discrete and continuum electrodynamics.
Maja White was promoted to professor of theatre & dance. She is a lighting and sound designer and has designed lighting for opera, theatre, and dance nationally and internationally. Her research falls in the study of how sustainable equipment and the evolution of technologies are changing the aesthetic of the live entertainment industry.
Eric Yellin was promoted to professor of history. He a historian of the United States with emphasis on twentieth-century American politics, race and racism, and the history of the US federal government. Yellin’s current research examines the intersection of American Jewish experience and public history and memory in twentieth-century Washington, D.C.
Yucong Jiang was promoted to associate professor of computer science. Her current research focuses on building software to analyze music-related data, especially performance data. Her latest project is aimed at visualizing technical aspects of an instrumental performance to provide multifaceted feedback to the player.
Sonja Bertucci was promoted to associate professor of languages, literatures, & cultures. She is a filmmaker and her most recent feature-length documentary, The Diamond Couple (2024), is an intimate meditation on love, aging, and the transmission of memory. She is currently working on a new experimental project inspired by French writer Georges Perec’s Lieux.
Nathan Snaza was promoted to associate professor of English. His work explores how ideas about what it means to be human have been put to work in educational institutions, especially those that engage language, literacy, and literature. He draws on work in the fields of affect theory, new materialisms, queer and feminist theory, and Black and decolonial studies.
Kavitha Cardoza, assistant professor of journalism, has been awarded the American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her work as a freelance reporter. The highly selective prize is awarded to journalists who exemplify excellence in reporting on underrepresented communities in the United States.
Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, narrates a new series available on Audible Originals — “Sculpting Healthy Brains with Everyday Activities.”
Volha Chykina was promoted to associate professor of leadership studies. She researches how leadership and politics shape education in the United States and abroad. Her scholarship examines educational inequalities, academic freedom, education policy, and comparative and international education.
Shweta Ware was promoted to associate professor of computer science. Her areas of expertise include ubiquitous computing, machine learning, and Smart Health. Recently, she published groundbreaking research that explores the feasibility of smartphone-based machine learning applications for ADHD symptom prediction.
Melinda Yang was promoted to associate professor of biology. Her research focuses on using and developing computational population genetic tools to study the evolutionary history and genetic variation of species, especially humans, by analyzing both ancient and present-day genomes. Her work combines assessing the robustness of these tools with uncovering demographic relationships, with a particular emphasis on ancient human populations.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, presented his latest film, Monument, with a live score accompaniment at Studio Two Three. The event also featured Eric Eckhart (Elabor), time-based media production studio manager, performing a live score to a screening of Fugue.
During its meeting on February 27, 2026, the University of Richmond Board of Trustees approved the promotion of Tom Shields to Professor of Education and Leadership Studies.
Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, published the chapter "The Mother of all Brains" in What is Success? A Kaleidoscope of Possibilities from Women in the World Around the World.
David Wilkins, E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies, co-authored the book The Navajo Nation Political Experience, fifth edition, published by Bloomsbury Academic.
Angie Hilliker, associate professor of biology, along with Audrey J. Panko, '15, Aidan Winters, '17, and Nicholas R. Rothbard, '15, published "A genetic interaction between DED1 and HAT1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals a role for Hat1p in cytoplasmic RNA granule accumulation" in G3: Genes, Genomes, and Genetics.
Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, presented the TEDx talk “What teaching rats to drive taught me about joy.”
Michael C. Leopold and Carol Parish, professors and Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chairs of Chemistry, along with Ben Edelman, ‘27, Charlie Sheppard, ‘26, Arielle Vinnikov, ‘27, and Lucas Chuidian, ‘27 published “Design of Nanomaterial-based Sensors for Enhanced Halogen Bonding” in ACS Omega.
Omar Quintero-Carmona, associate professor of biology, and Stacey Criswell, director of microscopy and imaging, along with Joanna A. Mas, '26, Chase E. Cristella, '26, Vu Hao M. N. Phan, '26, Lillian S. Wendt, '26, Charlotte A. Rose, '26, Abigail Ali, '25, David F. Carpio, '24, Christine Cole, '24, Paige Embley, '25, Jack E. Hoskins-Harris, '26, Delia Johnson, '25, Noelle Ledoux, '26, Hannah W. Lwin, '25, and Sarah Salah, '24, published "Cells stably expressing shRNA against MYO10 display altered cell motility" in MicroPublication Biology.
